Congress facing an 'existential crisis': Jairam Ramesh

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The comments made by senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, have restarted a debate that has been going on for some time that of the Congress Party needing a reality check.

Ramesh plainly said the Congress party is facing an "existential crisis." This is much deeper crisis than the electoral crises it faced in 1977, and 1996. He said the sultanate has gone, but the Congress members behave like they are sultans.

The country's oldest and longest ruling party at the Centre is passing through as 'existential crisis' these days. Tasting defeat and humiliation in state after state and witnessing an exodus in several other state units, many of its own leaders have blamed the Congress's top leadership for the sorry state of affairs. But this time, the grand old party has come in for some serious internal critiquing over its functioning and attitude by its own senior leader Jairam Ramesh.

In an interview to a news agency, Rahul Gandhi confidant Ramesh has said, "Congress faced electoral crisis from 1996 to 2004 when it was out of power. The party also faced electoral crisis in 1977 when it lost the elections held soon after the emergency. But today, I would say that the Congress is facing an existential crisis. It is not an electoral crisis. The party really is in deep crisis."

Jairam also said that the Congress needs to change its perspective. If it remains unwilling to change, it will become irrelevant. He said, "Old slogans don't work, old formulas don't work, old mantras don't work. India has changed, the Congress party has to change."

Jairam also took a swipe at those leaders in his party who act as if Congress is still in power. He said, “The sultanate has gone, but we behave as if we are sultans still. We have to completely redo the way of thinking, the way of acting, the way of projecting, the way of communicating.”

For the record, the Congress is dubbing Jairam's plain speak as his own views but several leaders are openly seconding the same views. The BJP has endorsed Jairam Ramesh's opinion saying the entire country feels the same.

The Congress graph has been in freefall ever since losing power at the Centre in 2014. The biggest indicator has been multiple losses of power where Congress ruled on its own or with allies.

Only the Punjab victory has saved Congress's face. The recent defeat of Opposition backed candidates in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential polls has left the Congress completely out of the power matrix at the Centre.

In Rajya Sabha, the Congress has lost the single largest party slot to the BJP denting the entire Opposition's resistance to the Centre's legislative moves in the upper house.

Rahul Gandhi has still not become Congress President but it is said that he's the one holding the party's reigns. A section of the party seems to be questioning his leadership by saying the Congress is losing ground under his command. Now with less than 2 years to go for the next Lok Sabha elections it's looking nearly impossible for the Congress to recover from its down and out state.